Escape

Emily Aulenbach is thirty, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. An idealist, she had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but now she spends her days in a cubicle talking with victims of tainted bottled water--and she's on the bottler's side.

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It takes courage to get away and really see your life from a different perspective. Emily's "escape" has ramifications for many people - her husband, best friend, and people whose lives only brushed tangentially with hers.
I loved the way Emily gained comfort and perspective from nature. (Example in a quote from the book: "Or was it the woods that had lulled him to sleep? He had to have smelled pine and earth; they permeated the room. Then again, it had taken me a while to be able to smell again. My first night here, I was on overload to the point of numbness.") In those first days, she also couldn't concentrate on tasting her food; instead she simply gobbled it out of habit.
Barbara Delinsky paints characters with habits and beliefs we can relate to, and then very creatively lays out events that precipitate creative new ways of finding meaningful, fulfillment in many different lifestyles.

IMolina3
Apr 13, 2014

Its good book but its not so great.. it got me wonder about the end...

mati9
Sep 16, 2013

A wonderful book! The big question resonates throughout: how to reach for the life that you want when you're stuck in a life you did not envision for yourself. Well developed characters, inter-mingling storylines that keep the overall story moving forward and a fresh, relatable style of writing. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a fun and easy but also thought-provoking read.

Emily Aulenbach is a married thirty year old Manhattan attorney who wakes up one morning feeling sick about having to do her job. She works for a corporation that poisoned its customers with tainted bottled water and her job is to speak with the victims and “minimize” the liability to the corporation, knowing full well that they were 100% at fault. Emily has had enough. She gets up from her desk, grabs her stuff and abandons her cubicle. Not really having a plan in place, she shuts off her cell, packs a weekend bag, grabs her husband’s BMW from their parking garage and takes off, destination unknown. After a night of foggy thoughts at a Cape Cod hotel, Emily realizes that the one place she needs to clear her head is Bell Valley, NH home of her ex-best friend and college roommate Vicki Bell, and Vicki’s brother, the only other man she’s shared her heart with, Jude. Her marriage suffers strain because of her sudden departure from home and from her life and Emily is left trying to figure out which pieces of her life she wants to put back together. DH.

Summary

Emily Aulenbach is a married thirty year old Manhattan attorney who wakes up one morning feeling sick about having to do her job. She works for a corporation that poisoned its customers with tainted bottled water and her job is to speak with the victims and “minimize” the liability to the corporation, knowing full well that they were 100% at fault. Emily has had enough. She gets up from her desk, grabs her stuff and abandons her cubicle. Not really having a plan in place, she shuts off her cell, packs a weekend bag, grabs her husband’s BMW from their parking garage and takes off, destination unknown. After a night of foggy thoughts at a Cape Cod hotel, Emily realizes that the one place she needs to clear her head is Bell Valley, NH home of her ex-best friend and college roommate Vicki Bell, and Vicki’s brother, the only other man she’s shared her heart with, Jude. Her marriage suffers strain because of her sudden departure from home and from her life and Emily is left trying to figure out which pieces of her life she wants to put back together. DH.

Quotes

"Or was it the woods that had lulled him to sleep? He had to have smelled pine and earth; they permeated the room. Then again, it had taken me a while to be able to smell again. My first night here, I was on overload to the point of numbness."